Flush tank valve operating means



March 28, 1950 s, -r

FLUSH TANK VALVE OPERATING Isms Filed Sept. 1:5, 1945 INVENTOR ATTORNEYPatented Mar. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLUSH TANK VALVEOPERATING MEANS Samuel Gertz, Jamaica, N. Y.

. Application September 13, 1945, Serial No. 615,942

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to valve-operating mechanism for flush tanks.

Flush tanks such as are used for water closets have a discharge openingin the bottom of the tank, and have a buoyant valve for closing thisdischarge opening. The valve is held in closed position by the pressureof the water above it, but once the valve is raised so that water canrush in below it, the buoyancy of the valve causes it to float so thatmost of the water in the tank can flow out through the opening beforethe valve closes.

In order to permit the manually-actuated part of the valve-operatingmechanism to return to its original posit on while the valve remainsopen, a lost-motion linkage is provided between the valve and themanually-actuated part of the mechanism.

It is an object of this invention to provide improved valve-operatingmeans for flush tanks, and more especially to provide a combination thatprevents sticking of the valve in open position. The lost-motion linkageconstruction commonly employed makes it necessary to apply the openingforce to the valve along a line that does not coincide with the axis ofthe valve, and because of the non-alignment of the connected parts, thevalve stem is usua ly given a bias one way or the other by theconnecting link. This bias sometimes causes the valve to stick in openposition if there is even a slight roughness of the valve stem or thevalve guide.

Another object of the invention is to guide at least the valve end ofthe valve-operating link so that no bias can be imparted to a valve stemno matter how much out of line the connecting link may be. The inventionprovides positive guide means for the lost-motion connection so that thevalve stem is always free to descend as the water level in the tankdrops.

Another object is to provide guide means of the character indicatedwhichare of simple construction, economical to manufacture, and whichcan be combined with conventional valve-operating mechanism with aminimum of additional structure.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corre sponding parts in all the views,

Figure l is a front view, partly broken away, of a flush tank equippedwith a valve and with valve-operating mechanism embodying thisinvention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of thevalve-operating mechanism shown in Figurel.

Figure 3 is a perspective view, similar to Figure 2, but illustrating amodified form of the invention.

Figure 1 shows-a flush tank In with an outlet fitting Ii that extendsthrough an opening in the bottom of the tank. The outlet fitting screwsinto a base l2 located within the'tank, and base I2 is clamped securelyagainst the bottom of the tank by a nut I 4 that screws on the fitting II immediately below the tank iii. A gasket or washer between the nut i4and the bottom of the tank provides a liquid type seal.

A support I! extends upward from the base l2. This support I! ispreferably a tube that serves as an overflow pipe for the tank l0, therebeing a passage in the base l2 through which water flowing down throughthe pipe I! flows into the outlet fitting The upper end of the openingthrough the outlet fitting I I serves as a seat for a buoyant valvecomprising a valve element 20, and a valve stem 2| that extends upwardfrom the valve along a line substantially coincident with the axis ofthe outlet through the fitting II. The valve stem 2| passes through aguide 24 supported by a bracket 25 that clamps on the standpipe l1. Atthe upper end of the valve stem 2|, above the guide 24, there is a head21 on the valve stem, preferably formed by bending a loop in the upperend of the material from which the valve stem 2| is made.

The valve is operated by a handle on the outside of the tank ID. Thishandle 3|! connects with a main operating lever 3| within the tank, andthe free endof the operating lever 3| is connected with the valve stem2| by a connecting link 32. The link 32 has a hook portion 33 at itsupper end extending through an opening in the free end of the mainoperating lever 3|. The lower end of the connecting link 32 has astraight extension 34 whichpasses through a guide slot 35 in the bracket25. There is a loop portion 31 intermediate the ends of the link 32, andthis loop portion passes around the stem 2| of the valve.

The opening through the loop portion 31 is large enough to permit thevalve stem 2| to slide through it freely, but is smaller than the head21 so that when the main operating lever 3| raises the link 32, the loop31 comes in contact with the head :1 and raises the valve stem 2| 32drops back to its starting position and leaves the valve stem 2| raisedand tree to move downward slowly as the buoyant valve element 20descends with the water level in the tank It.

The slot 35 extends in a direction substantially parallel to the generaldirection of the length of the main operating lever 3|. Since thisoperating lever 3| moves about a center, the upper end 01' theconnecting link 32 travels in an are as it is raised. The slot 35permits the lower end of the connecting link 32 to move lengthwise ofthe slot to compensate tor the arcuate movement of the upper end of thelink, but the slot 35 is of such width that it does not permit anysubstantial transverse play of the lower exten sion 34 toward or fromthe valve stem. The opening in the operating lever 3|, through which thehook 33 of the link 32 passes, prevents the link 32 from turning throughany substantial angle about the axis of the straight extension 34. Thisconstruction keeps the loop 31 in substantially the same position at alltimes with respect to the axis of the valve stem 3|.

A large head 21 is used so that the loop 31 can be made large enough toallow for considerable transverse variation in its position withoutdanger of having the loop 31 bind against the valve stem 2| or push thevalve stem 2| out of line with the axis of the guide 24. Theconstruction shownguides the lower end of the connecting link 32 so thatit cannot impart any bias to the valve stem 2|.

The portion of the link 32 above the loop 31 is. straight in Figure 2,but this is not essential, nor is it essential that the extension 34 ofthe link 32 be substantially in line with the portion of the connectinglink above it. It is sufficient that the extension 34 b substantiallyparallel to the valve stem 2| and the axis of the guide 24.

Figure 3 shows a modified construction in which the main operating lever3| is connected with the valve stem 2| by a connecting link 42. Thisconnecting link 42 has a hook portion 43 that connects it with the mainoperating lever 3| in the same way as the link 32 is connected with themain operating lever 3| in Figure 2. The lower end of the link 42 has aloop portion 4'! that surrounds the valve stem 21, but the connectinglink 42 beyond the loop 41 extends transversely and has an end formedinto another loop 48 that slides up and down on a guide pin or stud 50.

The stud threads into a bracket 53 that corresponds to the bracket 25 ofFigure 2, and this stud is held in position by a locknut 55. The loop 48is somewhat larger than the stud 50 to allow for the fact that the upperend of the link moves along an arc instead of a straight line. 1 Theaxis of the stud 50 extends substantially parallel to the axis of thevalve stem 2| and guide 24. V

The preferred embodiment, and one modification of the invention havebeen described, but changes and other modifications can be made, andsome features of the-invention can be used without others withoutdeparting from the invention as defined in the claims.

Iclaim as my invention; g

l. Valve-operating. mechanism foropening a buoyant valve of a flushtank, said mechanism comprising a main operating lever at a level iabove the valve, 9. lost-motion linkage extending downward from saidoperating lever to a stem attached to the buoyant valve, two guide means5 with spaced but parallel axes, one of the guide means being for thebuoyant valve, and the other 01 said guide-means being for the lostmotion linkage and having a bearing sumace in position to contact withthe lower portion of the lost motion linkage for preventing said linkagefrom imparting side thrust to the valve stem.

2. The combination with a buoyant valve, of operating mechanismcomprising a main lever, and motion transmitting connections between themain lever and the valve, said motion transmitting connectionscomprising two elements that have a sliding connection with one anotherand form in efiect a telescoping connection between the lever and thevalve so that th lever can return to its starting position while thevalve remains in open position, and independent guide means that contactwith the respective elements, said guide means including'bearingsurfaces in position to prevent transverse displacement of therespective elements at the region of their sliding connection with oneanother.

- 3. Apparatus for controlling the discharge of water from an outlet atthe bottom of a flush tank, said apparatus comprising a buoyant valveelement, a stem connected to the valve element and extending upward, ahead at the upper end of the valve stem and larger than said valve stem,a fixed structure having a guide opening in which the valve stem slides,an operating lever at a level above the valve element, a link connectingthe operating lever with the valve stem, said link including an eye withan opening smaller than the head of the valve stem and surrounding thevalve stem below said head and above the guide, a downwardly extendingportion of the link below the eye, and another guide in said fixedstructure and in which said downwardly extending portion of the linkslides. 4. Apparatus for controlling the discharge of water from anoutlet at the bottom of a flush tank, said apparatus comprising abuoyant valve element, a stem connected to the valve element andextending upward, a head at the upper end of the valve stem .and largerthan said valve stem, 9. fixed structure-having a guide opening in whichthe valve stem slides, an operatinglever at a level above the valveelement, a link connecting the operating lever with the valve stem, 65said link including an eye with an opening smaller than the head of thevalve stem and surrounding the valve stem below said head and above theguide, and said link including a second eye transversely spaced from thefirst eye, and 60 a guide pin surrounded by the second eye and extendingsubstantially parallel to the valve stem and the axis of the guideopening in which the valve stem slides, and means connecting said guidepin to the fixed structure within the tank. 5. The combination with aflush tank that has a bottom outlet and a buoyant valve commanding saidoutlet, of valve-operating means including a main operating leversupported adjacent one end by a fulcrum connected with a wall of 70 thetank, a manually actuated element outside of the tank and extendingthrough the wall of the tank into operative relation with the saidlever, a link connected to th lever adjacent the end of the lever remotefrom the fulcrum, a lost 75 motion connection between the lower end ofthe link and a stem extending upward from the valve-and guide meansindependent of the valve stem and including a bearing surface inposition to contact with the lower portion or the link and by suchcontact to restrain the lower portion of the link against movementtransverse of the direction oi movement of the valve stem.

6. The combination with a buoyant valve, of operating mechanismcomprising a guide for a valve stem, a main lever, adownwardly-extending link connecting the lever with the valve stem, andguide means independent of the guide for the valve stem and includingbearing means that REFERENCES CITED The following references are ofrecord in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,217,320 Romaine Oct. 8, 19402,440,389 Anderson Apr. 27, 1948

